He was all of 33 when his friends, acquaintances, colleagues and the wider circle of people around him thought he’d taken leave of his senses. And who really could blame them ?
The year was 2009. An IIT-Kharagpur engineer and IIM-Ahmedabad MBA, Arghya Banerjee lived in Chennai with his wife and four-year-old daughter, worked at Irevna — a Standard and Poor’s equity research outsourcing company that later got acquired by Crisil — had built a career and reputation in his chosen field and had some savings to get by.

That’s when Banerjee decided to chuck it all, return to his native town, Suri in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, and start a school. He had no experience in running schools, had no degrees that teachers or school administrators typically acquired, he had no one chasing him to fund his “mad” idea and he really had no one patting his back, saying he was doing something noble.

What he did have was the support of his wife, a young daughter who could benefit in the bargain and a belief that education could be more than what he, she and several hundred million students in India receive. Irevna — which he co-headed by the end of his stint — had grown from 5 to 500 people before his eyes and what he had noticed was that education failed to equip most with the skills needed to succeed. “Logical thinking and the ability to solve everyday problems were often missing; stuff one needs to learn in school was not to be found even in those with post gradate degrees,” says he.

As is to be expected, everyone who encountered Banerjee and his plans was sceptical to begin with; many asking whether he had been fired from his job in Chennai. Some dismissed Banerjee as a nutcase or a madman but he has both his alma mater and his professional achievements to dispel any such notions. He studied at a local government school for his formative years; yet he managed a state position in the JEE examination without coaching! He couldn’t be as crazy as it appears.

And it all does appear rather crazy. Located in 2.5 acres, the 500-odd students at Levelfield — four and a half hours away from Kolkata — do none of the normal stuff. There are hardly any text books, no regular notes taken from black boards, no teachers dictating stuff ad nosium — most of what you are used to seeing in traditional schools is missing. Children in the classroom are encouraged to talk, discuss and argue and to think for themselves.

Class I and II students converse fluently in English, read and write it. This despite the fact that almost none of the parents speak the language and neither do any of their relatives or peers studying at other local schools.

Even with math, the approach is not to focus on only standard word problems but also Japanese puzzles, Sudoku and so on — a lot of this is done through apps developed especially for the students (not downloaded but developed). Tablets are provided in school itself that students use.

The first year or so — after he bought land and started building the school using his own savings — was spent developing unique content that simplifies even the most complex stories and thoughts to be understood by four to seven year olds. As the children read a novel, they also filled in blanks, the focus always being on the why, what, how, where and when of things — not on cramming and rote.

But by the time the students reach Class VII-VIII, they are no longer absorbing simplified texts as their reading skills are advanced enough to proceed to original texts. So students in Class VIII don’t think that Orwell’s Animal Farm is a book aimed at cultivating a love for animals, they know when and why and how Gulliver went on his travel and what it led to, they read and discuss books like Shawshank Redemption, Macbeth and Teacher Man. Films are shown through the year and discussed at length. Grade VIII students watch Gandhi, Judgement at Nuremberg, Hotel Rwanda, the Pianist and Inherit the Wind. History and movements like genocide are introduced through them. “The idea is to bring alive stuff and to do it in an engaging manner,” explains Banerjee, saying that almost none of his students aspire to become doctors or engineers. It is the arts and social sciences that typically draw them due to the focus on reading, literature and history. Grade IX students are studying “Sapiens” a book many adults would struggle with.

The school has created it own graded-reading softwares, graded-math software (Delta), and as many as 12 Android apps so that the teaching methods are uniform and can be deployed elsewhere as well, “by other idealistic entrepreneurs interested in true learning,” says Banerjee.

Parents, too, were sceptical at the start. In the first year, the school took in around 70 children in the age group of 4-6 years. But after the first year, parents began to see the changes in their own children. Children could speak fluently, their behaviour and manners showed improvement. “Often parents said that children would translate news or happenings for them — from TV news or newspapers”.

Sneha Ghosh whose son is in Upper KG says she has the option of putting him in a Kolkata school but chooses this over all because the “world is changing and in today’s world, children will need to be able to think”. She also says that she finds most parents — across schools — unhappy with their schools whereas the parents at Levelfield “love the school the more they discover it”.

Swati Mukhopadhay’s son has been in the school since he was four and she says they chose the school because it was “different”. When she compares with other children, she feels her son is learning to think and question — as against the rote education she herself received. She says she’s very satisfied with how he is turning out so far.

Parent endorsement has meant that now for 50 seats, Levelfield gets around 200 applications and several calls from local big-wigs seeking admission for their kith and kin, even though it is one of the more expensive schools in the area. Fees for students in lower classes are around Rs 25,000 a year and go up to Rs 60,000 for senior classes. Typical budget schools charge Rs 500-800 a month; government schools are free. The average income of the parent community is around Rs6 lakh a year and comprises government officials, local businessmen and government school teachers who prefer putting their own wards in this school rather than their own.

Teachers (the school has 15 at present) are between 23-30 years and are the highest paid in West Bengal. A starting teacher earns around Rs 28,000 a month; with some experience it is around Rs 40,000. Teachers are only hired if they don’t have a “B-Ed” degree and have no previous experience in teaching. “Teachers we hire are not looking at this as a profession of last resort. They are in fact not even looking at teaching till they find us — through Facebook or word of mouth”, explains Banerjee. A teacher typically teaches his class all subjects, an approach many question. Banerjee says that expectations from teachers today are very low. “If we expect students to learn all subjects, why can’t a teacher teach all subjects”, he adds.

What in the long run is Banerjee hoping to do though? Is he only looking at running one school? 500-600 students in a country of this size is just a drop in the ocean. “I would like to spread this system of education elsewhere. I can’t do it through more schools as this one keeps my hands full but I’d like to bring about a change in the way things have been done so far, maybe by spreading the message,” says Banerjee. He’d be happy to share his curriculum and pedagogy with anyone who wants to do things differently.

Vikas Jhunjhunwala, who spent some years in the social enterprise space and is now CEO of Sunrise schools in Delhi, visited Levelfield before he set up his own school, says that Levelfield is questioning all the conventional thinking — both in terms of curriculum and pedagogy and that too in a location that he thinks is “back of beyond”. But he thinks it may be hard to scale up with a model like this as attracting good talent in terms of human resources will always be a big challenge.

Levelfield’s unconventional approach will be tested in 2018 as the first set of Class 10 students take the IGCSE exams. The school applied and received CBSE affiliation (more to prove to parents that they could than any conviction in the curriculum) but chose the CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) over the Indian board as it was a more “thinking” system.

But in the final analysis — for all their differences — students have to fit in and compete in the real world. The proof of the pudding will lie in the eating.

This IIM Graduate Is Bringing Quality Education To Rural Children In West Bengal’s Govt Schools

Partner Story

Even at 76, Pradip Burman, the zestful chairman of Mobius Foundation radiates a contagious enthusiasm when he is talking about sustainability. The environmental crusader, better known to many as the great-grandson of Dabur founder Dr S.K.Burman, has devoted substantial attention towards promoting the concept of sustainability in all aspects of life. He refuses to conform to the convenience and comfort in today’s world which ultimately adds on to the adverse effects of climate change.

Talking to The Logical Indian, Burman emphasised why sustainability as a concept is indispensable for us. “We ought to be aware of what lies ahead of us. Soon we will finish the oil, iron, tin, and coal, and our next generations will be left with nothing. Recycling, banning plastics, stop felling trees for paper… This should become a part of everyone’s lifestyle,” he urges.

Mr Burman watering a sapling at the tree plantation drive organised by his non-profit Mobius Foundation

Traditional wisdom and modern research

A mechanical engineer from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, Burman had always nurtured a keen interest in helping the society, as evident from his graduation project of designing a sonic aid for the visually challenged, which detected obstacles in the way using ultrasonic wave signals.

As an executive for the nature-centric company Dabur, Burman has always opted for natural alternatives to solve his everyday problems like taking Ayurvedic medicine to cure his Arthritis. He later launched the veterinary wing for Dabur – Ayurvet – which provides nature-friendly solutions for animal health care.

A patron of the ancient scientific wisdom of India, Burman always hailed the confluence of “traditional knowledge and modern research”, which he advocated as the Ayurvet motto.

Ayurvet is one of the best ventures by Mr Burman

As part of the CSR initiative of Dabur, Pradip Burman founded SUNDESH (Sustainable Development Society) which has been tirelessly working for last 25 years in remote villages for uplifting the rural communities in an environmentally sustainable way.

An advocate of sustainability

Burman believes that sustainability is the indispensable mantra for the world at present. Due to uncontrolled utilisation of the planet’s resources by human beings, the world today stands at a juncture of destabilisation. Today the human race has reached the pinnacle of progress but the advancement is happening in a very unsustainable manner.

Through energy-efficient use of everyday essentials like transport, communication, altered habits of diet, clothing and daily living, some crusaders of sustainability try to reduce their carbon footprint. Pradip Burman’s Mobius Foundation is one of the forerunners toward sustainability goals.

Mobius Foundation aims to change the sustainability dynamics

In 2015, Burman paved the way for the start of Mobius Foundation, focused on sustainability. Named after 18th-century German mathematician August Ferdinand Mobius, the famous Mobius strip has an important philosophical significance. The extraordinary shape symbolises balance and union.

Similar is the essence of Mobius Foundation which wishes to enhance the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” principle to a widespread basis in India, helping generations to come.

Founder Pradip Burman wishes to achieve notable development in education, population stabilisation and renewable energy projects.

A dream school in the making

At Coorg, Pradip Burman’s Mobius Foundation is constructing the World Environment School, Coorg (WESc) where the curriculum will surpass the boundaries of books and classrooms, with a special focus on hands-on learning in close collaboration with the environment. Amidst the pristine natural beauty of Coorg, the school will nurture young minds to grow up into future green leaders. As of now, the school will be open to teenagers, welcoming students from standards 6 to 12.

Needless to say, World Environment School will be the first-of-its-kind not only in India but also in entire South Asia. The school is expected to start from March 2020.

The school promises to nurture the responsible behaviour of citizens of our future.

The Sustainability Conference of 2019

In 2019, the Mobius Foundation has planned an international conference, on the lines of the celebrated earth summits over the past decade. The 2019 International Conference on Sustainability Education (ICSE 2019) aims to bring together environmental activists, practitioners of sustainable development as well as climate change experts to help develop a sustainability-focused curriculum.

It is surmised that the conference will give a platform to innovative concepts of Sustainability Education including an essential change in the existing education system ensuring a wholesome personal development for a student.

The Sustainability crusader

The Mobius founder strongly believes that it is high time to sprout sustainability awareness among a society drowning in consumerism and unknowingly doing irreparable harm to the planet, every second. The best way to achieve this goal is through education which is available to all. At present, the education system is predominantly career-oriented, making the learners a victim of materialism, and thus, their dreams are also outlined in those colours.

Living beyond the limits

When asked about his wish to attain the age of hundred, he strongly asserts that more than becoming a centurion, he wishes his life and work continue to better the society even in his absence. “I have lived my life. I wish that whatever I start before I go, will continue – for the betterment of my country,” says Mr Pradip Burman.

He is also a trustee of the Climate Reality Project – India (affiliated to Mr. Al Gore of the Climate Reality Project Foundation, USA). Climate Reality Project, India, has been actively engaged igniting the spark and spreading the message of climate change amongst educators, policy makers and civil society. The India branch looks after more than 500 trained Climate Leaders, and more than 900 volunteers spread all over the country.

In his journey, Pradip Burman has been a beacon of hope for millions, motivating many to join the movement for sustainability. We wish he continues his tireless efforts for promoting sustainability awareness and inspire generations to come.